I created this thread basically so members could post new info on characters including pictures, bios, and/or trivia.
So far we’ve met Carl Fredricksen, the grumpy old balloon salesman, and main character in Up.
Today an image of Russell, the wilderness ranger who follows Carl on his adventures, was leaked from Comic-Con:
pixarblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/u … c-con.html
Also we know of the dog, who was also in Ratatouille, no name yet…
Addition, Disney_Guy reminded me of Ellie, Carl’s late wife, who supposedly is a ball fo energy (no, not literally!!).
Note: Remember guys, don’t over speculate or we might get rumors like Emile as Rollie or Hal as Spot.
Lol, like I said about Russell in another thread… He’s a really funny character.
You may not be able to see him in motion now, but his overall appearance is funny, yes? Haha
Also, I also confirmed the dog in another thread.
There’s also Ellie, Carl’s wife from before she passes away.
She’s a bit of an adventurous one, as she loves to travel to places.
Wouldn’t you say Russell resembles Peter Sohn? Anyways, did you see any footage of Ellie (besides the picture Carl kisses.)? How would you describe her appearance?
Ellie was not shown, but she was mentioned a few times as Carl’s past wife, and how the house symbolizes his last memories of her.
As you can see in that picture with the lone house surrounded by construction and buildings, that’s exactly that - Carl’s one last memory.
Now why does that matter? Retirement is coming to take him out of his home for him to rot away in a retirement home, so Carl starts tying thousands of balloons to his chimney, and when the retirement people finally arrive, he tells them to wait a second and slams the door on them. Moments later, the place starts to rumble, and the people outside look up and see thousands of balloons coming out of his house, and more rumbles and his house starts to rip from the foundation it was built on, and Carl and his last memories with his wife make a grand escape.
You know, now that I think of it, Ellie is kinda with him the whole time, in the house. And the house kinda plays a role of a character too. It might not be alive, but Carl holds so dear to it like it really is his wife.
And as you can see in the concept art with Russell and Carl pulling it through the jungle, he’ll do whatever it takes not to loose her.
What isn’t shown is when Russell runs off when he sees a bug, and Carl lifts off the ground into the sky, and even then he still holds onto it.
Oh and about Peter Sohn, Russell does kinda look like him in a way. haha
The more I hear the more I’m looking forward to this!
Russell sort of looks slightly oriental to me. It might be his eyes. He looks really cool- I love the overexagerrated badges that he’s got, and his uniform.
Is it just me, or does the very general, basic outline of Up sort of remind you of Monster House? By that, I just mean the whole wife being represented by house, kid getting involved type thing. I’m sure the two movies will differ radically when we find out more about Up.
Except Up doesn’t have a Monster house. lol
And there are no nosy kids that are messing with a house either.
Russell’s character only comes in the movie because he was gonna go to Carl’s house and try to get his one badge he needed for helping the elderly.
Ooh, okay, a bit of a spoiler there that I’d rather not have read, Disney_Guy. I like to keep my Pixar movies completely under wrap until I’ve actually seen it in the cinema. The pictures on that link tempted me, but I’m going cold turkey from here on in. 
There’s actually a picture of Carl and Ellie at their wedding, of course among other photos so it blended in a bit. Ellie is quite pretty!
There was also a bird. There were two pieces of concept art that had Carl, Russel, the dog and a bird, so just speculating, maybe we could look forward to a feathery friend?
good to hear that up is already becoming a preivewed movie.
the sooner the news comes to us about info the better.
Of course he looks a lot like Pete Sohn !!! 
They’re almost identical It was my first impression when I saw this character 
This makes me feel an instant sympathy for this character
I can already tell Russell will be a favorite character of mine!
BUAHAHAHA! Carl’s adorable!
And nice to see an Asian character. You almost never see those.
Russell is so cute. He looks very enthusiastic and I’m sure he will get a lot of laughs. It’s easier to tell what a character’s like from watching a video, but if you read into the picture enough, you could get plenty of information. Nothing about anything Pixar does is ever an accident, especially when it comes to character design. It’s good to see an Asian character make it into a Pixar film, as well. I didn’t think of Peter Sohn before, but I can see the resemblance now that you mention it.
Russell looks like he’d be perfect for a plush character, or a little hard-plastic sculpture.
Being half-Chinese, I do like to see an Asian character in a PIXAR film. Though I have this horrible fear some ‘yahoo’ out there is gonna be upset because Russell is a ‘fat Asian character.’ It seems every film that comes out someone has to bring out the watering can and rain on the parade. I’ve heard Disney’s got quite an earful from their ‘Princess and the Frog’ film.
Wonder if they’ll hand animate all the stuff on the back of Carl’s pack or code something to do it automatically. Seems like something that could drive an animator insane doing.
^ Never underestimate Pixar. They are the kings of animation, and know what takes to produce the best animation possible, with no quality or aspects left behind.
As for Russell, yes, he does appear to be a lazy kid. Because in all the footage I’ve seen with him, he only complains about how exhausted he is and how he wants to take a break, as he drags his feet on the ground - and then the eventual passing out onto the ground.
I couldn’t stop laughing at this little guy. Haha
But he does seem to have some sort of big energy in his, as he quickly scampers up and chases after a bug. So I guess if there’s work that Russell is uninterested in, he gets tired. But if it’s something he’s totally interested in, he’s willing to use his energy and go wild.
Sound like the typical kid to you?
“But I don’t wanna clean up my toys… I’m too tired to do anything today.”
Five minutes later that kid is found dog-back riding his dog outside pretending to be an Indian.
So after watching the latest trailer, I can tell Russell’s and Carl’s relationship in the movie is going to be really entertaining. I was giggling at that scene with Russell on the porch 
They both look so cute (I mean, cute old man and cute kid)! Pixar always comes up with really endearing characters and character relationships so I expect this to be no different.
Yep, I wonder where the dog is gonna end up…
Amazing character design, but what else do we expect by now, honestly?
My favorite detail on Russell is that one teeny tiny space on his sash, presumably for that Assisting the Elderly merit badge he’s missing. So clever!!